Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Montreal Impact had a mammoth crowd of 58,912 in Olympic Stadium for the first ever home game for the club.

San Jose played a game this past week at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants and saw over 20,000 in attendance. It should also be noted that Toronto drew in over 40,000 for their Champions League match-up with the LA Galaxy (though this does not show up on this graph). Chivas USA had their second home game and recorded an attendance of only 7,723. It may be time to move this club to San Diego.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A new year of MLS soccer, year 17. Last year was the highest gate attendance and highest average attendance ever in MLS history.

Season

Total Gate

Games

Avg.

High avg.

Team

Low avg.

Team

1996

2,785,001

160

17,406

28,916

Los Angeles Galaxy

10,213

Colorado Rapids

1997

2,339,019

160

14,619

21,423

NE Revolution

9,058

Kansas City Wizards

1998

2,747,897

192

14,312

21,784

Los Angeles Galaxy

8,072

Kansas City Wizards

1999

2,742,102

192

14,282

17,696

Columbus Crew

8,183

Kansas City Wizards

2000

2,641,085

192

13,756

20,400

Los Angeles Galaxy

7,460

Miami Fusion

2001

2,363,859

158

14,961

21,518

D.C. United

9,112

Kansas City Wizards

2002

2,215,019

140

15,822

20,690

Colorado Rapids

11,150

San Jose Earthquakes

2003

2,234,747

150

14,898

21,983

Los Angeles Galaxy

7,906

Dallas Burn

2004

2,333,797

150

15,559

23,809

Los Angeles Galaxy

9,088

Dallas Burn

2005

2,900,716

192

15,108

24,204

Los Angeles Galaxy

9,691

Kansas City Wizards

2006

2,976,787

192

15,504

20,814

Los Angeles Galaxy

11,083

Kansas City Wizards

2007

3,270,210

195

16,770

24,252

Los Angeles Galaxy

11,586

Kansas City Wizards

2008

3,456,600

210

16,460

26,008

Los Angeles Galaxy

10,685

Kansas City Wizards

2009

3,608,325

225

16,037

30,942

Seattle Sounders FC

9,883

FC Dallas

2010

4,002,000

240

16,675

36,173

Seattle Sounders FC

9,659

San Jose Earthquakes

2011

5,468,951

306

17,870

38,496

Seattle Sounders FC

11,858

San Jose Earthquakes

(sorry I am terrible at HTML)

We have a new team. Montreal is added to the mix and sure to add an increase in attendance as every Canadian club has.

We have new stadiums for Vancouver (only used BC Place a couple times last year)and the Houston Dynamo in BBVA Compass Stadium. Both stadiums are beautiful and will only increase the attendance and excitement for MLS soccer in both of these cities.

Meanwhile Portland and Seattle, in the new heartland of MLS, both increased capacity at their stadiums as the Cascada region continues to amaze Don Garber and the MLS.

This year looks to be a another great year for the MLS as a league and in attendance. As long as all the new expansion teams can keep their high attendance up and keep their team the talk of the town, the MLS could break 19,000 for average attendance. The original teams look to increase attendance and copy the set up now seen in Canada, Seattle, Portland, and others. With no team planned to join in 2013, the fans and league must focus on building up and maintaining the MLS to a high standard. I have no doubts that this league can grow to be one of the best in the world.

Eight games were played this weekend and here is the attendance for those as the MLS kicks off.